Florence Katz at 100: ‘I’ve loved every day’

On Thursday, Florence Katz hoped one of her many goals would be accomplished: seeing her face on a Smuckers jar during the "TODAY" show in honor of her 100th birthday.

“We’re hoping she gets on the show,” Judy Vigder, Katz’s daughter, said. “We think that would make this birthday perfect.”

Although Willard Scott did not announce her birthday, she is still satisfied with her life and considers her greatest accomplishment to be her family, which includes five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

“Raising my family was my number one accomplishment,” Katz said. “They’re my pride and joy, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful group. I feel so fortunate to have lived long enough to see my great-grandchildren be well on their way to a successful life.”

Katz’s entire family will be in Sarasota to celebrate her birthday, and more than 150 people are expected at her party.

They'll celebrate a 4-foot-8 dynamic dame who still volunteers twice a week and has earned numerous accolades for her service.

“Florence is an inspiration to so many of us, and we’re so grateful for her joie de vivre, her vitality and her eagerness to help others, and she has a twinkle in her eye and a smile that captivates and draws others to her,” Temple Beth Israel Rabbi Jonathan Katz (no relation) said. “We just feel blessed to be in her presence and to be able to celebrate this landmark event with her.”

Katz was born July 9, 1915, in the small town of Coschocton, Ohio, which had a population of approximately 10,000.

“There, things came last,” Katz said. “We were the last to get new technology. I remember when we got the first radio. It seemed like a miracle that a voice was coming out of that box. I couldn’t comprehend it.”

On her sixth birthday, Katz’s parents gave her a violin. She never looked back.

“My father bought me this very, very little violin and stuck it under my chin, and that’s all I ever knew,” Katz said. “It was the most wonderful gift for the rest of my life.”

Katz went on to attend the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.

When she graduated from college, she wanted to play for the symphony orchestra but wasn’t hired because she was a woman.

“I kept at it,” Katz said. “I didn’t throw my fiddle away.”

Katz continued pursuing music and was the chairwoman of a music program at Ohio State University when she met her husband, Louis, in 1938.

“Paul Katz, who conducted the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, wanted me to meet his younger brother, who was a young doctor who needed a wife,” Katz said. “They threw me his way, and it was love at first sight.”

Florence and Louis Katz knew each other just three months before they were married.

“It was a very, very fast romance, but it was a lasting one,” Katz said.

“She’s a wonderful person and such an inspiration. She’s a real example of aging well in every way.”

— Pamela Baron, Jewish Family
& Children’s Services

The couple had two children and raised them in Ohio. They discovered Sarasota in 1969.

 “We were invited down here for a birthday party,” Katz said. “While we were touring, my husband said this could be a nice place to live. That trip, we put a down payment on an apartment.”

Katz now lives at the Sarasota Bay Club, but Vigder and her husband, Bob, now live at the Lido Key apartment.

“We will be handing that apartment down from generation to generation,” Katz said.

When Katz moved to Sarasota, she immediately became involved in local charities and organizations. Her most important activity is volunteering for the Senior Outreach Services (SOS) program at the Jewish Family & Children’s Services in Sarasota, which offers homebound seniors the opportunity to socialize and connect with others on a weekly basis.

“I make them lunch, and it provides them counseling and entertainment,” Katz said. “I love it. They’re so appreciative. People don’t realize how many people never get out of their home.”

Katz volunteers twice a week and in 2013 was named Florida’s winner of the Salute to Senior Service, an award given by Home Instead Inc. to seniors who have positively impacted their communities.

“She’s been a loyal, loyal volunteer,” Pamela Baron, director of senior services at the Jewish Family & Children’s Services,” said. “Florence always made sure that everyone was welcome and served, and the table was always set perfectly. She always took great delight in helping others. She’s a wonderful person and such an inspiration. She’s a real example of aging well in every way.”

Katz has also been a member of Temple Beth Israel since its establishment in 1979 and served as its first choir director for 23 years.

“She was not afraid to try new things,” former Rabbi Michael Eisenstat said. “She sought out challenges as our choir director, and people responded really well to her. She’s wonderful and wise, and her advice is only foolishly ignored.”

For Katz, turning 100 means creating new goals and memories.

“Turning 100 is a big feat in my life because no one in my family has ever lived this long,” Katz said. “Never did I dream I’d live to be 100. I’ve loved every day of it, and I still have a lot of things to do. I’m not done yet.”